Bulk cargo is generally cargo that is unpacked and of a homogenous nature. These cargos are typically blown, poured or dropped as a liquid or a solid into a bulk carrier's hold such as a railroad car, ship hull, or a tanker truck/trailer body. Some examples of bulk cargo include coal, grain, chemicals, dry or liquid edibles, oil, or gas.
Before a shipment of bulk cargo can be dispatched to its destination, the originating facility or shipping company is responsible for inspecting the cargo and the carrier and insuring they are loaded properly. A visual inspection is conducted to verify that the load is present and unadulterated. Further inspection is conducted to assume that the load is secure and that the cargo carrier is seaworthy or roadworthy and is sealed. Bills of lading are checked and destinations recorded.
Often a bulk cargo tanker truck has multiple separated bins for carrying payload. Each bin is marked by an identifying number or series of numbers. The inspector must document the identifying numbers for each bin in addition to the carrier identification and the driver identification and finally check these numbers against the manifest to insure correctness. If all checks out properly, the carrier is dispatched. Once the shipment reaches its destination a receiving inspector must repeat the process. This inspection process is time consuming and labor intensive. Because of the time consuming meticulous nature of the task, errors occur causing further delays and in some cases the inspection may be skipped completely.
Further, there exists the possibility of the cargo being unknowingly compromised. The lock or seal on a particular bin may be broken during shipment and the cargo inside either partially reduced, contaminated, or spoiled. The receiving inspector may or may not notice the breach. Once the unsatisfactory cargo is discovered, responsibility for the loss depends on shipping and inspection documentation. Locating various inspectors for personal testimony and sorting through the paper trail of inspections are time consuming tasks and present unwanted delays.
The prior art includes examples of systems using RFID tags to track shipping vehicles and packages and to automate inventory and dispatch procedures. However, none of the prior art uses disposable RFID tags and a system of networked software modules to track and monitor the integrity of bulk cargo to increase security and the efficiency of the inspection process.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,034,683 to Ghazarian discloses a system for vehicle, pallet and personnel tracking including RFID transponders, gate readers and GPS GSM modems. The system allows a vehicle to “electronically” log product content, driver, passengers and so forth into an onboard vehicle CPU. Ghazarian requires an RFID transponder be affixed to each shipped item of concern and therefore does not accommodate the bulk cargo shipping industry. The system incurs extra expense by requiring each carrier vehicle to have on board its own RFID tag reader and an RFID transceiver CPU. Ghazarian does not disclose use of video monitoring equipment, or the use of multiple disposable RFID tags as “seals” at various locations on a truck trailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,053,777 to Allen discloses a system for tracking products in a distribution path by using an RFID tag mountable on the product or the product carrier. This system discloses a plurality of interrogators along the distribution path that provide feedback about the location of the RFID tag and its product. A memory is associated with the RFID tag that includes information about the product in transit. Location data is communicated to a central database from various base stations or interrogators via the internet. Allen does not disclose the use of video to discover security violations or the use of multiple disposable RFID tags as security seals to ensure the integrity of the shipment.
World Patent Pub. No. 053566A1 to Braun discloses a system for monitoring a container door during transport. The system includes an onboard device attached to the container door and in communication with a central computer system. The central computer system processes alerts transmitted by the onboard device and tracks the position of the onboard device. The onboard device includes a complicated rechargeable battery powered processor/sensor component and an antenna component including a GPS antenna/receiver. The processor/sensor can sense container conditions such as door opening/closing, light, temperature, humidity, and vibration/motion. Braun does disclose recording events such as the opening and the closing a door of the container during transport. However, Braun is not suited to the bulk cargo industry, does not address the time consuming process of dispatch and receipt inspections, and does not disclose the use of multiple disposable RFID tags as seals.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2006/0011721 to Olsen, III, et al. discloses a system used to automate inventory and dispatch procedures by detecting arrivals and departures of delivery vehicles and container devices in a staging area. In one embodiment, the truck and the trailer are each fitted with a permanent RFID tag. Each RFID tag includes unique identification information stored in an information management system. Alerts are issued when the truck pulling the trailer arrives at a location. Upon departure an alert is issued if a truck and trailer have inconsistent destinations. In another embodiment, the system uses GPS tracking to trigger when the truck and trailer are within a certain distance of the reader system. Olsen does not disclose using multiple disposable RFID tags as security seals to monitor cargo integrity. Olsen also does not disclose a software system to monitor and coordinate cargo integrity.